Hanging Chads?: Afghan Recount Delayed Over Fraud Definition

Commission: Audit Could Take Months

The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) says that the recount of the presidential runoff votes are expected to resume in the coming days, but that the audit could take many months to complete.

The big problem is that the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, can’t agree on what a “fraudulent ballot” actually means, with the Ghani camp walking out on the count last week over claims the Abdullah camp was trying to throw too many ballots out.

The results of the election are hinging more or less entirely on this audit, as the preliminary results showed a Ghani victory, but the Abdullah camp showed strong evidence of widespread ballot stuffing on his behalf.

Ultimately, the two are going to be splitting power, with one as a trimmed down “president” and the other as a “chief execution,” a position that will last until the next parliamentary election decides Afghanistan’s first prime minister, moving the country toward a parliamentary system of governance, and away from the days of an all-power president.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.